What It's Like: One family's A-Z journey through Autism

Month: March 2010

I have been mulling over starting a blog….for a very, very long time. It would serve as that teachable moment to those who cannot be taught. Not just the special needs parents who needed a place to connect, but also to those friends and families of special needs parents. They would log on ever so often and have an “aha” moment. They would have greater empathy for those people…they would know what to say, and I, through my words would change the way society treats kids with special needs. This has pretty much been the way I have attacked Asher’s apraxia. Somehow….if I just went to every speech therapy appointment, every seminar….dragged his talker to every location, I would save him from what lie ahead. Completely unrealistic…fantasy peppered with hope.

This blog is about Asher’s journey….While he remains blissfully unaware of his hurdles, I watch him as if he is running through water. It is slow and arduous…he is frequently knocked down by waves and riptides. The occasional jellyfish swims by and stings him in the leg for no other reason than it is a jellyfish. He’s lost an arm floaty. It is hard to watch your child struggle and feel at any moment he might go under…but he hasn’t yet and while the lifeguards sit in their red suits on the shore I often wonder if they will make it to him in time if he falls and doesn’t come up for air.

Enough drama. Some days I am funny and sarcastic….some days I am dramatic. This is a drama day–a day of writing where obviously I do not draw on my creative writing background….more to come……